All 12 zodiac signs and their dates
The zodiac starts at the March equinox and runs through the year in the order below. These are the dates of the tropical zodiac used in most Western horoscopes, grouped by Northern Hemisphere season. They are approximate: the Sun can change sign a day earlier or later depending on the year and your time zone.
Spring: ♈︎ Aries, March 21 – April 19 · ♉︎ Taurus, April 20 – May 20 · ♊︎ Gemini, May 21 – June 20.
Summer: ♋︎ Cancer, June 21 – July 22 · ♌︎ Leo, July 23 – August 22 · ♍︎ Virgo, August 23 – September 22.
Autumn: ♎︎ Libra, September 23 – October 22 · ♏︎ Scorpio, October 23 – November 21 · ♐︎ Sagittarius, November 22 – December 21.
Winter: ♑︎ Capricorn, December 22 – January 19 · ♒︎ Aquarius, January 20 – February 18 · ♓︎ Pisces, February 19 – March 20.
Elements and ruling planets
Each sign belongs to one of four elements, which repeat in order around the wheel: fire (♈︎ Aries, ♌︎ Leo, ♐︎ Sagittarius), earth (♉︎ Taurus, ♍︎ Virgo, ♑︎ Capricorn), air (♊︎ Gemini, ♎︎ Libra, ♒︎ Aquarius) and water (♋︎ Cancer, ♏︎ Scorpio, ♓︎ Pisces). The element signs borrowed from alchemy are triangles: 🜂 fire, 🜃 earth, 🜁 air and 🜄 water.
Every sign also has a ruling planet: ☉ Sun for Leo, ☽ Moon for Cancer, ☿ Mercury for Gemini and Virgo, ♀︎ Venus for Taurus and Libra, ♂︎ Mars for Aries, ♃ Jupiter for Sagittarius and ♄ Saturn for Capricorn. Modern astrology adds ♇ Pluto for Scorpio, ♅ Uranus for Aquarius and ♆ Neptune for Pisces, signs that traditionally went to Mars, Saturn and Jupiter. The Mercury symbol page explains one of these glyphs in depth.
Why zodiac signs turn into purple emoji
The signs ♈︎ to ♓︎ have two looks: a flat text glyph and a colorful emoji. Phones and many apps pick the emoji by default, so a sign you paste into a bio can turn into a white glyph on a purple background.
The fix is an invisible character, variation selector 15 (U+FE0E), placed right after the sign to ask for the text look. With Symbol style set to Text, the default here, every sign you copy from this page already carries it. Switch to Emoji if you want the purple icons. Most apps respect the choice, but a few always show emoji.
Ophiuchus ⛎︎ and how to type the signs
⛎︎ Ophiuchus, the serpent bearer, is a real constellation that the Sun crosses between Scorpius and Sagittarius, roughly from late November to mid-December. It is not one of the 12 signs, because the tropical zodiac splits the year into 12 equal parts tied to the seasons rather than to the constellations. Unicode still includes ⛎︎, so you can copy it like any other sign.
To type a sign without copying, open the emoji panel with Windows key + . on Windows or Control + Command + Space on a Mac, or use the emoji keyboard on your phone, and search for the sign's name. In Microsoft Word, type a code from 2648 (Aries) to 2653 (Pisces) and press Alt + X. Each sign also has its own page, such as the Leo symbol and Libra symbol.